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Trivia: Musical Terms

Subject : trivia
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. The element of music pertaining to time - played as a grouping of notes into accented and unaccented beats.






2. A book of text containing the words of an opera.






3. Music written for chorus and orchestra. Most often religious in nature.






4. Music that is written and performed without regard to any specific key.






5. A musical composition written solely to improve technique. Often performed for artistic interest.






6. A piece of music written in triple time. Also an old French dance.






7. Music composed such that each note is used the same number of times.






8. Elaborate polyphonic composition of the Boroque and Renaissance periods.






9. A combination of two or more staves on which all the notes are vertically aligned and performed simultaneously in differing registers and instruments.






10. Two notes that differ in name only. The notes occupy the same position.For example: C sharp and D flat.






11. The distance in pitch between two notes.






12. Movement in music where the characteristics are crisp and direct.






13. When several strings are tuned to harmonically related pitches - all strings vibrate when only one of the strings is struck.






14. A set of five musicians who perform a composition written for five parts.






15. Repetition of a single tone.






16. An extended cantata on a sacred subject.






17. A short piece originally preceded by a more substantial work - also an orchestral introduction to opera - however not lengthy enough to be considered an overture.






18. A quick 20th century dance written in double time.






19. The principal note of a triad.






20. Closing section of a movement.






21. The interval between two notes. Three whole tones and one semitone make up the distance between the two notes.






22. Two or more voices or instruments playing the same note simultaneously.






23. The performance of either all instruments of an orchestra or voices in a chorus.






24. A 19th century square dance written for 4 couples.






25. A string of chords played in succession.






26. A chord comprised of three whole tones resulting in an augmented fourth or diminished fifth.






27. The unit of musical rhythm.






28. A chord comprised of three whole tones resulting in an augmented fourth or diminished fifth.






29. The highest female voice.






30. 3 or 4 notes played simultaneously in harmony.






31. 3 or 4 notes played simultaneously in harmony.






32. Made up of five horizontal parallel lines and the spaces between them on which musical notation is written.






33. Music written to be sung or played in unison.






34. Three note chords consisting of a root - third - and fifth.






35. The raising and lowering a pitch of an instrument to produce the correct tone of a note.






36. Male singers who were castrated to preserve their alto and soprano vocal range.






37. The structure of a piece of music.






38. The period of music history which dates from the mid 1700's to mid 1800's. The music was spare and emotionally reserved - especially when compared to Romantic and Boroque music.






39. A line in a contrapuntal work performed by an individual voice or instrument.






40. Pertaining to the sonata form - a fast movement in triple time.






41. A loose collection of instrumental compositions.






42. The unit of measure where the beats on the lines of the staff are divided up into two - three - four beats to a measure.






43. A musical scale having five notes.For example: the five black keys of a keyboard make up a pentatonic scale.






44. Word to indicate that the movement or entire composition is to be played smoothly.






45. The expression the performer brings when playing his instrument.






46. A composition written for three voices and instruments performed by three people






47. One of the two modes of the tonal system. The minor mode can be identified by the dark - melancholic mood.






48. A piece of music played at the end of a recital responding to the audiences enthusiastic reaction to the performance - shown by continuous applause.






49. Groups of tones that are harmonious when sounded together as in a chord.






50. A 17th century dance written in Quadruple time - always beginning on the third beat of the measure.